Enable Scotland board

Paul joined Motherwell District Council as an assistant director of leisure services in 1987. In 1999, he was appointed director of community services, a post he held until internal re-organisation in 2007 created environmental services. 

In 2015, he became chief executive of North Lanarkshire Council until he retired in 2018. 

In April 2021, Paul took over as Chair of the Enable Scotland board from the outgoing Bob Cowie. 

Paul is a consultant to the managing director and account director at AMEY on strategic opportunities in the government and public sectors. 

Paul is the founder/director of McMahon Employment Law and has been an employment law specialist solicitor for over 20 years. He advises employers on the full spectrum of employment law and HR issues — from discipline and grievance to discrimination and dismissal. 

Having previously taught on employment law masters courses, Paul now teaches post-graduate law students on the legal practice course at The University of Strathclyde. He also regularly provides practical training to clients and speaks at conferences. 

Paul has been recognised by the UK-wide independent legal directories, The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, in the field of employment law in Scotland. 

Alan is head of the restructuring and insolvency team and a partner in the corporate team at Morton Fraser Lawyers. 

He specialises in advising on corporate restructuring and insolvency. He is a very experienced and well-respected practitioner who routinely advises insolvency practitioners, lenders and other stakeholders in all aspects of corporate distress situations. He advises in connection with SMEs and larger companies and groups. 

Alan has been involved in many high-profile insolvencies in Scotland over many years. 

Alan has significant experience of dealing with pre-packs and retail insolvencies, and all aspects of administrations, liquidations, receiverships and CVAs. 

As well as his experience in insolvency, Alan has a significant expertise in ABL including drafting standard form Scottish ABL documentation and the structuring of the funding of acquisition transactions through ABL. 

Beth is the founder and CEO of Positive and Active Behaviour Support Scotland (PABSS). 

Her journey to founding PABSS began when her child, who has learning disabilities, sustained life-threatening injuries during a face down restraint at school. This led her to become a leading and passionate campaigner for the rights of children who have a learning disability. Her petition to the petitions committee of the Scottish Government was widely supported and led to the introduction of new guidance on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. Her petition was also backed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). 

Beth is an accredited British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD) positive behaviour support coach. 

Beth’s work at PABSS includes campaigning, training, and running a number of support groups for parents of learning-disabled children. She has authored and co-authored several publications in the International Journal of Positive Behaviour Support. 

In 2016 Beth was given a special award for Outstanding Achievement in Protecting Scotland’s Most Vulnerable Children in Schools. 

Beth is a member of Enable Scotland’s Scottish Council and in 2017 was awarded their Outstanding Achievement Award for her contribution to Enable’s ‘Included in the Main’ campaign. Her campaigning is now UK wide and she co-ordinates with many interested parties including charities, professionals in the field of learning disability, and each of the Children’s Commissioner’s for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Beth has spoken in the House of Lords on the issues she campaigns for. 

John combines twelve years’ experience in sales and sales management, with sixteen years working in and with the voluntary sector. He has developed a deep understanding of charity leadership and management in operations including policy, fundraising, marketing, communications, retail, procurement and manufacturing. 

He combines intellectual, analytical and strategic thinking with practical experience of operational delivery, including budget setting and monitoring and risk management. 

John is chair of the Institute of Fundraising in Scotland, a volunteer position chairing a volunteer board. He has also chaired the Institute’s Public Affairs Committee in Scotland. He served on an OSCR expert review group on Scottish Government fundraising regulations, and has represented the Institute in media interviews. 

Katie became a trustee of Enable Scotland in 2020 and has served as a co-opted member of the audit and risk committee since 2018. She is currently an audit partner for RSM and previously trained with KPMG becoming a chartered accountant in 2004. In her role, she has worked with a variety of organisations including charities, small owner-managed businesses, PE backed entities and large complex international groups. Katie focuses on understanding the challenges faced by those organisations as well as their future plans, to allow her to provide a tailored solution. 

At KPMG, Katie was a member of the corporate responsibility forum helping to promote charitable initiatives. She was a founding member of the number partners scheme in Glasgow, helping primary school children with Maths skills. She is currently a member of the empower group in RSM, helping to promote opportunities for all across the Scottish region. 

In her role as trustee and member of the audit and risk committee, Katie uses her background and experience to support and challenge her fellow trustees, the CEO and executive team, particularly in the areas of risk and financial governance. 

Kenneth specialises principally in charity law, providing advice and guidance to charities and third sector organisations. His work in charity law is extensive and includes the governance, establishment, merger and reorganisation of charities. Kenneth’s clients have included philanthropists, Royal Charter bodies, large umbrella membership bodies, family foundations, culture bodies and sports organisations. He has also worked on several high-profile governance cases involving the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. 

He is a member of the Charity Law Association. 

In addition to, and often alongside, charity law, Kenneth has significant experience in dealing with tax and estate planning for private clients, trust law advice, the preparation of wills and powers of attorney and executry (probate) administration. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. 

Martin is executive director of finance at Glasgow City Council and has been in post since May 2018 after spending 8 years as director of finance and corporate services at Glasgow Life. 

Prior to this, Martin worked for COSLA where he led on negotiations with the Scottish Government over financial settlements. Martin was also managing director of Isoplan and previously worked in management consultancy for IBM and PWC. 

Martin started his career as a trainee accountant with Glasgow District Council and worked for a number of local authorities before being part of the senior management team that opened HMP Kilmarnock. 

Outside of work Martin is a keen golfer, having served as captain of Whitecraigs Golf Club, and is also a rugby referee. 

Professor Hillier is associate principal and executive dean of the University of Strathclyde Business School. He is responsible for managing resources to provide teaching, learning, research and knowledge transfer activities in the Strathclyde Business School. 

A professor of finance, David is the author of the largest franchise of Finance textbooks outside of the US and is a visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano. David is recognised as being in the top 3% of the most prolific finance researchers in the world over the past fifty years (Heck and Cooley, 2009) and appears regularly in the media as a business commentator. 

David gained his PhD at the University of Strathclyde in 2000 and was appointed to full professor in 2002. Between 2005 and 2010, David held the Ziff Centenary Chair in Financial Markets at the University of Leeds. He has acted as a World Bank consultant and provided consultancy advice to the NHS and several international stock exchanges. His executive clients include the Wise Group, Weir Group, Babcock, Wm Grant & Sons, Iberdrola, and David Brown Gears. He has taught in many international environments including China, Greece, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Oman, and Romania. 

David sits on the CBI Scotland regional council and the MCR Pathways national advisory council. He is also a trustee of Mainstay Trust. David has won a number of industry and academic awards, including the Institute of Directors Scotland public sector director of the year. 

David edits the Journal of Economics and Business and sits on the editorial board of many international journals. 

Shareen is head of risk and compliance at Johnston Carmichael, Shareen. She also handles the firm’s internal legal matters, regulatory compliance and risk management strategy. 

Having previously been a solicitor at a large Scottish law firm, she has acted as in-house counsel in the private and public sectors, most recently as a general counsel and company secretary in the renewables sector. Shareen was awarded Young In-house Lawyer of the Year in 2010 at the British Legal Awards. 

Outside of work, Shareen is a non-executive director at Citizens Advice Scotland and Govan Community Project, a charity that works to build links between diverse communities in the area. 

Tony McElroy is a former director of media relations for the Scottish Labour Party. He was also one of the former UK Prime Minister, and Labour Party Leader, Gordon Brown’s press advisers during his leadership campaign. 

Tony now manages corporate and government affairs in Scotland for Tesco.